A year of mid-level karate in my teens may not have left me breaking boards with my bare hands, but it did instill in me a basic understanding that at the core of any martial art are the principles of consistency and precision.

So it’s somewhat surprising that both practices are virtually non-existent in Netflix’s kung-fu inspired superhero origin story, “Marvel’s Iron Fist,” a laborious and uninspired final piece to the streaming giant’s “Defenders” character-driven series — “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones” and “Luke Cage,”

Like its predecessors, “Iron Fist” focuses its narrative on a street-level hero in the making. In this case, it’s Danny Rand (“Game of Thrones’ Finn Jones), a curly-blonde haired twenty something with the face of a frat boy, who rolls back into New York City after a 15-year absence — barefoot, draped in loose-fitting bohemian threads and sporting a scruffy (but strategically, not unattractively scruffy) beard.

His reappearance is shocking to those he left behind considering the last time anyone heard of Danny, he was believed dead in the Himalayan plane crash that killed his parents. But Danny isn’t the timid kid who disappeared into the snowy mountains after the crash. He now possesses hyper reflexes, hand-to-hand combat experience and the otherworldly ability to channel enormous force into his fist — all thanks to discipline of strict monks.

So why is Danny and his twirly kicks back? The lack of any answer to this question throughout the six episodes made available to critics is the first cry for help in this unimaginative, meandering and downright boring seriesgenerally reliable Netflix.

This is truly disappointing considering the clear visions established and then well executed in the respective stories of Danny’s predecessors. “Daredevil” saw Matt Murdock wrestle with his physical limitations in pursuit of justice; Jessica Jones dealt with issue of consent by forcibly confronting a shadowy figure from her past that literally stripped her of her free will; and Luke Cage sought to stamp out racism and the competing powers using his community as the battlefield.

“Iron Fist” makes no effort to explain or even tease that Danny’s reappearance is more than simply the final leg on a Forrest Gump-style trek that concluded in the city where his family’s name happens to make him heir to 51 percent of a massive oil and chemical company.

Clearly, there is no way to watch or frame a discussion about “Iron Fist” without the inevitable and, frankly, fair comparisons to the Defenders who came before him. For one, he is the all-important final bridge to the long-foreshadowed “Defenders” series, which will see the four characters take on Sigourney Weaver. He is supposed to bring the otherwise solid string of shows home and a bolster excitement for what’s next. But in reality, without a compulsory need to complete the saga before that “Avengers”-style payoff, said to be coming in late 2017, or the sheer commitment to finish a binge you started, some may hard-pressed to stick with Danny’s story to the end.

“Iron Fist’s” distinctive element — a story intended to be rich in martial arts lore and practice — never sticks the landing, in part, because Jones lacks the ability to effectively fuse with both Danny as a person or as a martial arts master, no matter how hard he kicks.

Only adding insult to injury, every time Jones gets a chance to break out these “moves,” the camerawork is just choppy and lackluster.

The series also lacks a tangible villain to push and pull against Danny. At first, it seems though it will be Ward Meachum (Tom Pelphey), the former teenage bully to young Danny who now runs the Rand corporation alongside his sister, Joy (Jessica Stroup).

With the slicked-back hair, tight-lipped resting face, emotional depth and mental fragility of a broker straight out of Gordon Geeko’s “Wall Street,” Ward quickly proves more self-destructive than any real outward threat. He’s also puppeted by his power-hungry father, Harold (David Wenham) who is somehow involved with The Hand, a shadowy organization that literally exists in the shadows and emerges to midway through the season to challenge Danny.

Here again, “Iron Fist” comes off as rudimentary when compared to “Daredevil,” which really hit its stride under the menace of Kingpin; and “Jessica Jones,” whose history and sense of self was so intimately tied to her tragic relationship with Killgrave, it’s hard to imagine what her solo show looks like without him.

Although increasingly evident in “Luke Cage,” Netflix’s insistence that its Marvel origins series be stretched across 13 episodes does an express disservice to Danny and company, whose introduction is already pretty thin. (Ironically, “The Defenders,” which will be stuffed with characters from all four series, is only planned for eight episodes.)

If any element of this mangled heap of iron is redeeming, it’s Colleen Wing, a community martial arts instructor compellingly and skillfully played by Jessica Henwick — yet still underwritten by the powers that be. Early on, she meets Danny lurking in the park and sees opportunity in his mystery, after some initial hesitation.

Like any good warrior, Colleen — the only series-regular Asian character in this series — is fighting an internal battle over whether or not to contain her unrest or channel her considerable talents into something else — in this case, illegal cage fighting. She’s a proud, strong woman who uses who skills to protect the one thing through which she feels she can contribute to society: her dojo, where she teaches self-defense to the defenseless.

Unlike every other character she brushes up against, there is genuine, palpable conflict bubbling within her — a starting point from which Colleen can evolve by season’s end.

With a little tender love and care from the writers, Colleen could become a serious anchor for the “Defenders” universe of characters.

Just in watching Colleen on her own, pummeling guys twice her size, it’s hard not let the mind dream up a alternate series where she harnesses the power of the Iron Fist.

At least she can pack an potent punch — narratively and physically speaking.

“Marvel’s Iron Fist” premieres March 17.

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